A parliamentary debate has called for the licensing minister to work to help owners of small establishments with pub insurance to survive the economic downturn.
Nigel Evans, the vice-chairman of the All-Parliamentary Beer Group, has urged Gerry Sutcliffe to look at cutting alcohol taxes and make satellite fees more affordable to help get more punters into smaller pubs.
In response, Mr Sutcliffe said: "We need to speak to representatives of Sky and Setanta, and similar providers, to see what they can do for the smaller pub — for pubs that are not part of a big chain that can afford the fee."
He also vowed to deal with "as many as possible" of the points brought up during the debate of interest to pub insurance owners, which include frozen alcohol taxes at the next Budget, mandatory rate relief and "more diversification" in pubs.
It was recently reported that new government proposals recently reported could result in pub insurance holders offering customers the option of buying wine in smaller glasses.
Establishments could be forced to offer 150ml measures alongside the standard 175ml and 250ml sizes.
